Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

 

“Get to the point already,” I sighed. He was being such an a*s – he wouldn’t tell us anything until Rachelyn joined us here. Rachelyn was in the shower, doing God-knows-what. She was in there for an hour already. That girl was seriously . . . urgh. I didn’t know the best adjective to describe that dearest sister of mine.

 

After an hour of waiting, she finally came to the living room. I would’ve dragged her out of the shower if it wasn’t for Luke. I was getting more and more uneasy as each moment passed. Edmund was looking at me intently and I felt shivers down my spine whenever my eyes caught his.

 

Rachel sat beside me, not forgetting to give me dagger glares beforehand. Our parents were sitting on the loveseat at the right side of the coffee table and Edmund sat opposite of us.

 

“I’m sure all of you know the reason why I’m here already,” Edmund stated calmly. His calmness amazed me; he seemed so confident.

 

“You want us to join the army,” Luke stated matter-of-factly.

 

“That is correct,” Edmund said, “The three of you will come with me, either voluntary or involuntary. Your Archeic have to be polished for the upcoming battles.”

 

“And why must we agree to that?” Rachelyn spoke, which surprised me. I never thought that she would feel the same way as us – I thought she would be glad to leave this village.

 

“You are in no place to argue. I will use force if necessary,” Edmund said. Luke seemed pissed off and clutched his hands tightly. He started to concentrate to use his Archeic against Edmund. That’s right. If Luke could manipulate Edmund’s mind, then we’re good to go. This was the first time I ever felt grateful to Luke’s Archeic.

 

“Your attempt to use your Archeic against me is futile, Luke. I know about how your Archeic works. You have to make an eye contact with your opponent to be able to use your power against them. That is your main weakness,” Edmund said calmly. It just aggravated Luke even more.

 

How did he know about Luke’s weakness? I didn’t even know about that. Luke was my best friend and he told everything to me, and I didn’t even know about how to activate his Archeic. How in the world did he manage to grasp that information?

 

“Luke, behave,” I said. I took a deep breath and said, “You can’t force us to go, we’re not going. And whatever your Archeic is, it’s not going to work against me. I’m not going to allow you to do anything to anybody in this village.”

 

Edmund had an amused expression on his face after I said those words. “That is right. Your Archeic is far too convenient, but it’s not strong enough to protect this whole village. I can easily destroy this place with a flick of my hand,” he said calmly.

 

Dang. He knew about my Archeic’s weakness as well. My Archeic wasn’t powerful enough to protect other people; it’s only convenient for me.

 

“We’re not going and that’s final!” Luke said angrily.

 

“You people have no say in this,” Edmund said calmly.

 

“You . . . !” Luke gritted his teeth. He balled his fist and aimed it at Edmund. Edmund glared at Luke with his penetrating crimson eyes. Luke stopped moving in an instance. It was as if his whole body was paralyzed.

 

“Take this as a warning, Luke Reinbore,” Edmund stated calmly. He flicked his hand and Luke was able to move again. Luke’s breathing was uneven and his face was pale. “I’ll give you time to pack your things. I’ll be back in an hour. Don’t even think of running away, that’ll do you no good,” Edmund said calmly as he stood up and walked out of the door, disappearing as soon as he stepped out of the house.

 

“Luke? Are you okay?” my father asked.

 

“I’m fine now,” Luke replied, his breathing was still a bit ragged. “He’s a monster. When I tried to punch him, I felt a pang of pain shot through my body. I wasn’t paralyzed, I was just too shocked to move. I could see a vision . . . of Hell. I could feel the pain and torture,” he said glumly and shuddered.

 

“He’s not an ordinary person. He’s just too creepy and too calm,” I said, recalling his expression when he spoke to us.

 

“He is the Prince of Firenze, the kingdom that governs fire elemental and also is the strongest kingdom of the five kingdoms,” my father explained, his expression showed guilt.

 

Okay. He’s really not an ordinary person. A PRINCE?! What the hell? And Firenze? This was the continent of Windia, not Firenze!

 

“Apparently, a big war is waging in this world. We’ve been quite oblivious to that fact. Firenze had grown to be the strongest kingdom and had conquered Windia as well as Undine. They’re striving to conquer all the kingdoms. That’s all I know,” my father explained.

 

Silence engulfed us all. We were just too shocked to say anything. All of this was just too much. Just this morning, I was still a normal teenager, and the next thing I knew, I was recruited to an army. How was I supposed to behave normally about this?

 

“You all need to pack up,” my mother said, breaking the icy silence. I stood up and went to my room.

I stuffed my clothes into a bag. I took several other important things and stuffed them into the bag as well. I sat on my bed and studied my room for the last time. Perhaps this would be the last time I could be here. Or perhaps, I would be a completely different person when I got the change of being back here.

 

I felt uneasy and restless, for no apparent reason. I felt that this journey would most likely change my life. Would it be okay? I was a bit excited to see the outside world. I even thought of running away from this village one day when I was still little. The chance had come for me now; I would be able to start over new. But why was I hesitating so much?

 

I never thought I would feel any kind of attachment to this place. I defined this place as Hell. This room was my sanctuary, my shelter. It was the only place I could have peace, where I could cry out to my heart’s content, where nobody could disturb me.

 

Even though I was gifted with a photographic memory, I could only remember from when I was five. It was a mystery of where I was before I turned five. All I remembered was a beautiful blue sky and faint white light. My parents told me I was left at the roadside when I was a baby. That didn’t make sense at all. How could I forget all that?

 

More importantly, why should I be thinking about those things now? It was very unimportant. I took a small teddy bear from my drawer. It was my favorite toy – or perhaps my only toy. I remembered how badly my mom treated me, even though I did nothing. Rachel would always find things to blame at me. Mom always bought toys for Rachel, but she never gave me any. That teddy bear was a present from Luke on my seventh birthday. He was always there for me – to cheer me up and protect me.

 

I remembered those times – I was such a crybaby back then. My train of thoughts was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come in,” I said.

 

“Hey.” It was Luke. He went inside my room with a wide grin on his face. He went to sit beside me and eyed the teddy bear on my lap. “You still keep this bear. What’s its name again?”

 

“It’s Lucky. You have a bad memory,” I said.

 

“Not everybody is gifted with photographic memory,” he remarked but his grin grew wider. “I’ve always wondered why did you name him Lucky? Is it from ‘Luke’?”

 

I glared at him. “Oh please! Don’t think too highly of yourself.” I rolled my eyes, causing him to laugh.

 

“Maybe this is the last time we can talk freely like this, huh? We’re going to be a tool for war. That’s kinda depressing, isn’t it?” he laughed bitterly.

 

“Uh-huh,” I muttered.

 

“Promise me, Lynn. Don’t ever change,” he said seriously. Lynn was his nickname for me, he rarely used it because he knew I hated it. Oh well . . .

 

Don’t ever change. “How can I promise something like that, Luke? I have no control of such thing. I can only promise you one thing: you’ll always be my best friend,” I said. He grimaced.

 

“Why are you asking that of me anyway?” I asked.

 

“I don’t know. That Edmund guy . . . I don’t like him. It’s like he’s going to snatch you away from me. I feel so hopeless,” he concluded. I couldn’t say anything to calm him. No ‘I’m not interested in him’ or ‘I hate him’ or ‘Don’t worry I won’t ever leave you’. Nothing at all. That would be a lie if I said those things to him.

 

“Don’t be silly, Luke,” was all I managed to say. Would I really be able to still be myself after all this? Would I still be the Lyrene Crystallind I know?

 

“You’re right. I’m being utterly silly. I’m worrying over nothing, huh?” he laughed at himself.

 

“Let’s just say goodbye to this room. I’ll definitely miss my room, but not the other part of the house,” I laughed bitterly.

 

“Right. Let’s go then,” he said. I took Lucky and stuffed it into my bag. Lucky would clearly be a reminder of my best friend ever – if I would lose track of who I am someday.